Nimchas in the Grand Master Palace Armory in Valletta

[TVV]

Considering that the Great Siege of 1565 was perhaps the single most important event in the history of Malta, there are constant reminders about it during the Palace and Armory tour. However, while the armor of Grad Master La Vallette is preserved and on display, there is absolutely no way to make a reliable connection between the assortment of Islamic arms and the epic siege. The Armory's collection was amassed during the rule of the Knights of St. John from 1530 to 1798. The palace (and all of Valletta, really) was built in the end of the 16th century, start of the 17th century so we can therefore conclude that the majority of the arms were collected in the 17th and 18th centuries. The fighting between Knights and Muslims did not end with the siege, as the knights were actively engaged in piracy praying on Muslim merchant vessels.


Continuing with the pictures: there is a display of various arms, including an axe, some maces and firearms in the middle. More importantly, as far as this thread is concerned, there are also two interesting Ottoman swords. One is a karabella, of a type that is generally associated with the 18th century. The horn hilt has sadly cracked and needs to be restored, and the blade appears to be of an earlier type - 16th century perhaps. The other sword is even more intriguing - it is shorter, with a very unusual eyelashes (Gurda) marked blade. Both the blade and the fluted ivory hilt seem to mimic early Ottoman swords, but it looks more like something made in a European shop for export to Istanbul or to one of the major ports in the Maghreb.